Is your family shrinking?

[sunshine244]

I know there's a trend for people to have fewer kids currently, and am curious is others are finding similar patterns.

My kids only have one cousin despite them having 4 sets of aunts and uncles in their 40s. There's not likely to be any more children due to circumstances/age.

My own 6 cousins (40s-50s) have only had 4 children in total, and again it is unlikely there will be more.

Family gatherings are a lot quieter than when I was a child!

In my friendship circle - there are lots of women who just hadnt met the right partner yet and are now childless in their late 40s/50s. I wouldnt even say they were fussy, all successful, solvent, attractive women

Yes it makes me sad how DS has no cousins his age but we have great family friends and their children have taken on that role I remember from my childhood

Mine will be yes. My grandparents were all one of 7-12! My mother one of 5. My sister and I are a pair, though we have four step siblings, and my husband an only child.

My sister is one and done and I want two (but who knows the reality). Our children will have just one aunt and one cousin. I had 10 aunts/uncles and 20 cousins!

In terms of my family idk. Mum was one of four, very abusive family, Dad was adopted and has never introduced me to his siblings, not actually sure how many he had. They had me, only child

Only one of mum's brothers has had kids so 50/50 there. I didn't meet any of my cousins as a child because we were estranged, I met them when I was almost 20! My uncle has had three kids so I guess I have 3 cousins. Those kids have had four or five of their own, so if I was going to have kids I guess they would have a bigger family.

I'm having 0 kids, locked in now DH has had the snip. To be honest I don't really feel like part of my 'family' because of all of the above, and I didn't feel any desire to carry on a line

My two kids have two cousins in total and that's very unlikely to change. The age range is massive too and they all live in different places. My OH and I both have more than 20 cousins so yes, about 10 times smaller. I'm sad they won't grow up with loads of cousins around the corner like I did.

It will definitely be a thing because of people having fewer children but also a widening "generational gap" whereby because people have children later, there are fewer generations alive at the same time. I knew two of my four great grandparents. My children didn't meet any of theirs and it's possible that their children won't even have four grandparents alive when they're born (I will be 74 if DD has her child at same age I had her)

My children have 10 cousins - 6 on one side and 4 on the other. Although I have 15 cousins so still smaller!

Technically yes although I think big family gatherings are becoming more important as a result. My child has no siblings but several cousins (and counting) and his aunts, uncles and cousins are much more important relationships in his life than my extended family ever was to me. I pondered this over Christmas actually because my mum said she never would have left the house on Christmas day when her children were small, but I feel like I should so my son can see a couple of cousins and not be the only child all day, and so it still feels like a big family Christmas sat round the dinner table.

I have over 40 first cousins, my children have 3 and my grandchildren none.

No, my kids have 27 cousins.

There was only one son in each generation on my father's side for well over 100 years. There are also fertility problems in the female line, and I have one cousin related to him. The family name will be gone when the current generation dies.

My Dad only had one brother but my uncle had 4 kids and I have 2 DBs, my cousins had lots of children too (but they're all in their 50s and 60s and I'm early 40s) we were never close with Dads side of the family. My Mum's 2 DBs never had kids, one was due to infertility the other due to never settling down with a SO.

Out of my brothers one has had 1 DC and the other has had 2 DCs. My DH has 2 sisters but only one has 2 DCs and I think the other sister probably won't have DC now. I have one DC but a mixture of not trying for a family till 37 years old (out of choice, got together with DH quite young) and then covid/COL meant we stopped at 1. I'm 43 now and probably could afford another but the age gap feels too big and I feel too old to do the baby years again. I feel there was a window and we unfortunately missed it. I also worry about baby health especially since I'm a bit older, my DC has ADHD and we would probably struggle if we had another child with complex needs. Xx

My dad was one of 6 and I have many cousins on that side (now aged early 40s to late 60s). We have had around 35 children between us (only 2 didn't have children). But I think the next generation is where things will start to shrink - the 'children' are aged from 5 to 35, with most now adults. So far there has only been 2 children born in the next generation. Obviously there will be more over time, but I wouldn't be surprised if the average number of children is below 1.

100% - I have 9 cousins and my kids have 2 cousins.

My ds has 26 first cousins, I'm not quite sure how many I had, certainly more than this. But I'm one of 6 and dh is one of 9.

I have 40 cousins on my mother's side as she was the eldest of 12... and one of my cousins went on to have 10 girls. My father was brought up as the youngest of eight but that is slightly misleading as his eldest sister was actually his mother.

Sadly, I am the last of my parents' line as neither I or my siblings have had children and the family is scattered to the four corners of the globe... our last mega party was a golden wedding celebration where there were over 100 people all blood related having a whale of a time!

It's unsurprising that we have fewer cousins as for the last fifty years the birth rate in the UK has been below the 2.1 per woman necessary to maintain the population. It's the same throughout the West. It's the main reason that immigration has been so necessary & with an increasingly elderly population will remain so.

My children have 4 sets of aunties and uncles and 8 cousins, however my brother and his partner don't have children and never will. I have 3 kids so hopefully they will have a couple each.
I have around 20 cousins and my dad was from a big family, and most of them have 3/4 children!

Excluding partner and her kids who i do consider family, my blood family is only me and my dad. It does feel small.

I have 5 cousins - DH 4 - though not really close or seen much of them in our lives.

Our DC have two - one they've met few times one they still haven't met despite me trying to arrange.

I had two uncles - one either side saw rarely - DH had 4 - though one died before he was born - saw one regaularly.

Mine have an aunt and a Uncle who've made little to no effort with our kids.

My kids seem quite close - closer than me an my siblings at this age.

There weren't that many big gatherings in our families but it was when I met second cousins and great Aunts - mostly remember it being wedding anniversaries.

Last one would have been Dad funeral and it was just Mum and us kids and 4 older grandkids and freinds and neigbours- everyone else realtive wise was too old to travel or had little to do with my parents.

Yes. I have 14 cousins, my son has 3. None of DH’s four siblings have children and three of them are unlikely to.

My grandmother’s mother had 16 children
My grandmother had 4 (including my dad)
My mother was also one of 4
My parents had 4.
My siblings and I have 3 each, bar one, who doesn’t and won’t have children

So, large family, but shrinking

@thecatneuterer
Its akin to people saying "im self coupled" instead of saying "im happily single". Just a needless fluffy description to make up when theres already a real word for it.

Yes my mother was 1 of 6. Of her and her siblings they had 1, 3 (only brother, 2 marriages) 2, 2,1,0. Of that group of 9 cousins 4 of us have no children.

I’m an only child I have one cousin who I fell out with years ago. Dh is one of 3 brothers but they only one to have children so our children have no cousins.
We have six children. The eldest has two children so when we all get together it’s lovely. I hope the younger five have children they all say they want them when they are older but who knows.